The histories of Herodotus;

170 HERODOTUS—BOOK III, THALIA . [42-45
I did not think it right to take it to market, although I get
my living by hard labour ; but it seemed to me worthy of you
and your empire ; I bring it, therefore, and present it to you."
He, pleased with these words, replied, " You have done well,
and I give you double thanks for your speech and your present,
and I invite you to supper." The fisherman, thinking a
great deal of this, went away to his own home ; but the servants,
opening the fish, found the seal of Polycrates in its belly
and as soon as they had seen it, and taken it out, they carried
it with great joy to Polycrates, and as they gave him the
seal they acquainted him in what manner it had been found.
But when it occurred to him that the event was superhuman,
he wrote an account of what he had done, and of what had
happened, and having written, he despatched the account t0"""
Egypt. But Amasis, having read the letter that came from
Polycrates, felt persuaded that it was impossible for man to
rescue man from the fate that awaited him, and that Polycrates
would not come to a good end, since he was fortunate
in everything, and even found what he had thrown away ; having
therefore sent a herald to Samos, he said that he must
renounce his friendship. He did this for the following reason,
lest if some dreadful and great calamity befell Polycrates, he
might himself be grieved for him, as for a friend. —T"—
Against this Polycrates, then, who was so universally prosperous,
the Lacedaemonians made war, at the solicitation of
those Samians who afterward founded Cydonia in Crete.
Polycrates, having sent to Cambyses, the son of Cyrus, as he
was collecting an army for the invasion of Egypt, begged
that he would send to him at Samos and demand some troops.
When Cambyses heard this, he readily sent to Samos, requesting
Polycrates to furnish a naval force to attend him
in his invasion of Egypt. Whereupon he, having selected
those citizens whom he most suspected of seditious designs,
sent them away in forty galleys, enjoining Cambyses not
to send them home again. Now, some say that these Samians
who were sent out by Polycrates never reached Egypt,
but when they were off Carpathius, they conferred together
and resolved to sail no farther. Others say that, having arrived
in Egypt, and finding themselves watched, they made
their escape from thence; and as they were sailing back to
Samos, Polycrates met them with a fleet, and came to an engagement
; and they who were returning gained the victory
and landed on the island, and there having fought on land,
they were worsted, and so set sail for Lacedsemon. There
are some who say that the party from Egypt conquered Polyc-
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